Silence
by AnimeDutchess
Summary: Slight Paul bashing, Palletshipping hinted at. April 25th is the National Day of Silence. Can Ash keep his mouth shut long enough?


_**Silence**_

By AnimeDutchess

A/N: Wanted to do something for April 25th, the National Day of Silence. It's about how the gay, lesbian, and bi community is often silenced by society's norms, bullying, and a myriad of other really bad things. I am going to try my very hardest to be silent tomorrow, although talking may be unavoidable in my Japanese class...ah, well, I'm sure it won't hurt if I just talk in that one class...XDD;;;

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Disclaimer: AnimeDutchess certainly doesn't own Pokemon...although she would like to. XD

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This is dedicated to everyone, no matter who you are. Remember that we're all equal under this big, blue sky.

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It was a bright, April morning, and the sun was giving the earth a healthy, golden glow, much like it had been for a few days now. The dew was still fresh on the newly sprouted leaves, the grass, the blooming flowers...

It was the kind of morning where you would be suspicious about the rest of the day. I mean, when do days ever stay this perfect? Still, Ash wasn't the type to be suspicious of things, nor did he see how lovely the sunrise was. He was too busy sleeping, letting such a beautiful sight pass him by...but all wasn't lost. After all, he had a lot on his mind the other night. He'd explained it to Pikachu, and Brock understood what he was gonna do, but would Dawn? Would anyone they happened to meet understand what he was doing? He supposed not.

When he finally did awake, it was to Dawn shaking him sporadically.

"Come on, lazy-bones, or we'll eat everything without you!" She goaded cheerfully. Ash shot up at her words, giving her a disgruntled look. "Well? Are you eating or not?" He just rolled his eyes and pushed his sleeping bag off, preparing to roll it up. Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have to ignore me, Ash, geez..." She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest and adverting her eyes cutely. Ash paused to give Dawn a blank stare before continuing his work. "...Ash?" Still, the raven-haired boy said nothing. Dawn sweat-dropped nervously.

"Er...Ash? What did I do?" She asked, looking slightly upset. Ash shook his head and stood up, finished with his task. He held out a hand to Dawn, who, after blinking at it, took his hand. He helped her to her feet without so much as a grunt of effort and smiled. Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, you're really starting to freak me out. Did your voice break or something?"

"Guys, what's taking so long?" Brock has appeared in his pink, slightly frilly apron. "The waffles _will_ get could if you don't eat them, you know." Ash gave Brock a smile and a wave, while Dawn sighed.

"Ash won't talk to me! Is he sick or something?" She asked. Ash glared at her slightly, while Brock chuckled.

"It's Aprilt twenty-fifth, Dawn."

"...What does that have to do with anything?"

"April twenty-fifth is the National Day of Silence. Ash is just observing it." As though to prove Brock's claim, Ash nodded eagerly. Dawn made a small 'o' with her mouth.

"Ah, alright...I didn't know that..." She then looked back at Ash. "You're not gonna talk all day? Won't that be hard?" Ash shrugged indifferently.

"Pikapi!" As if shoved in by a neglecting authoress, Pikachu bounded onto the scene, looking on-edge. He jumped onto Ash's shoulder, the boy giving him a confused look, as if asking what was wrong. "Pi pikachu!" Pikachu pointed into a thicket where a person was emerging...

"What the...I can't believe it's you losers." It was the infamous Paul, purple hair and all, glaring right at Ash. The copper-eyed boy glared right back, his eyes matching his new rival's in intensity. "Out of all the people I could run into out here, I run into you. What crappy luck..." Pikachu was growling at the pompus trainer out of his loyalty to Ash; how dare this horrid excuse for a person insult his best human friend?

"Now, come on, we don't have to resort to name-calling..." Brock said, trying to relieve the tension in the air. Paul just 'Hmph'-ed.

"Whatever," He drawled, his eyes on Ash. "You, me, battle. Now." Ash opened his mouth to protest that it was too early in the morning to battle, but quickly clamped his mouth shut and shook his head no instead. Paul visibly bristled. "What do you mean no? You wuss...You can't even say no, you're so scared..." It was clear that Ash was struggling to keep his vow of silence...

So it was probably a good thing that Dawn intervened.

"Why don't you just go crawl back under the rock you came from?!" She shouted, her body seeming to give off a red aura. Paul turned his attention to the blue-haired girl.

"I wasn't talking to you. It's rude to interrupt people." Dawn's eyes narrowed.

"Well, it's rude to randomly challenge people to battles, too, isn't it?" she countered. Paul gave her a cold, hard look before shrugging and turing around.

"You owe me a battle," Was all he said before walking off. The group waited a moment before letting out a breath of relief.

"Boy, that sure was a close one. I thought he was gonna blow up at me!" Dawn gushed. Brock nodded, rubbing the back of his head.

"You can say that again." He looked over at Ash, who definitely looked relieved. "I'm surprised _you_ didn't blow up at him right there." Ash just shrugged again, grinning, which pretty much said everything that needed to be said.

"Yeah, good job, Ash!" Dawn cheered. "I just know you'll be able to stay quiet all day!"

"Eheh, thanks, Dawn..."

Everyone gave As a blank stare.

"What?" A gasp. "Oh, FUCK! I talked!" He clamped his hands over his mouth. "Shit, now I owe Gary my eternal soul!!"

"...You bet your soul that ou would be quiet all day?" Dawn asked, monotone. Ash didn't respond; he was in far too much woe.

"Yeah, he and Gary apparently have this betting thing going on," Brock explained, "Last year Ash didn't make it though being woken up without talking, and apparently, he lost his mind in that bet. The year before that, I believe, he had to give up the rights to his heart." The adult of the group shook his head. "I'm thinking next year he'll make it halfway through breakfast before he loses the bet over his body..." Dawn blinked.

"I...see..."

"Pikaaa..." Pikachu hit his forehead with his palm and sweat-dropped.

After all, beautiful days were rather misleading.

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A/N: XDD You like the implied Palletshipping? The Paul-hate may nab me some nasty reviews, though...and I was very light-hearted about a serious subject...that's not bad, is it? Anyway, I hope you got some form of enjoyment out of this. Ja Ne! - AnimeDutchess


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